I'm Andy Warren, currently a SQL Server trainer with End to End Training. Over the past few years I've been a developer, DBA, and IT Director. I was one of the original founders of SQLServerCentral.com and helped grow that community from zero to about 300k members before deciding to move on to other ventures.

Picked up Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness from the local library on a whim without looking at anything except the cover. I’ve had some learning over the years on various survival skills, thought a refresher that was family based would be interesting. Turns out the book doesn’t really match the title, it’s really an autobiography of General Russell Honore, one of the main leaders of the Hurricane Katrina rescue effort.

So, not much in the way of survival skills, some photos of recommended items like flashlights (seriously, I think I know what it would look like) and not much else. The biography part is ok, and it’s a look at both the culture of the Army and the politics and realities of trying to use Federal forces in a civilian emergency. I’d be interested in reading a more holistic review of the event, this one seemed one sided and it’s hard to know if that view is overly biased or not.

Read it if you’re interested in Katrina or the military/civilian angle of disasters.